Photo: JVC

The DLA-HD990 is part of JVC’s range of THX-certified projectors. It offers Full HD 1080p resolution for enhanced picture quality, and has a high contrast ratio and a fast refresh rate of 120Hz for detailed pictures with no noise distortion or motion lag. It’s not the most attractive of projectors, with a standard boxed design and large lens, but the basic look keeps the distraction levels down, especially if the JVC DLA-HD990 placed on a table in front of you.

Getting to know the HD990

The JVC projector offers brightness levels of 900 lumens, which isn’t that impressive in comparison with other projectors. But the DLA-HD990 produces extreme black levels with a contrast ratio of 70,000:1, which is amazingly high for a projector and provides less grey and more detail in dark scenes. This enhances the overall brightness by bringing out the lighter colours more – thanks to D-ILA technology – and creates an effective contrast between light and dark hues. The HD990 has preset original movie modes which can be adjusted with the on-screen gamma control, which lets you change settings for a more natural and realistic result.

Other features

The JVC DLA-HD990 has a 2x motorised lens with automatic focus for added sharpness when zooming in. It also has electronic lens shift which perfectly fits the display onto the screen without the hassle of manual adjustment. The lens has a cover as well that closes when the projector is switched off to protect it from dust and scratches. The HD990 has a HQV Reon-VX video processor which provides you with colour management options, a faster and clearer display and an overall more powerful and effective projector. It’s also extremely quiet, with a noise level of only 19dB.

Connection and lamp life

The JVC DLA-HD990 doesn’t have many connections, but it has the most important ones, including two HDMI inputs for connecting to a Blu-ray player or gaming console, an RS232 port, component video inputs and a computer port. It projects images with an aspect ratio of 16:9, and can display a picture up to the size of 200 inches with a throw distance between 12-19.9 feet. The HD990 comes with a three year warranty and an average lamp life of 3,000 hours. The THX certification equips the JVC projector with compatibility with a variety of formats and high quality signal processing.